What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2012 (Season 5)

[zylon]

SMS:

Power Strike 2.25hrs

 

Mark III:

Aleste 20min

 

INTV:

Beamrider 35min

 

5200:

Meteorites 30min

 

VIC-20:

Mole Attack 5min (simplistic, but kinda fun)

River Rescue 10min (some challenge to this one, but still not very good)

Meteor Run 5min (boring, plays similar to Space jockey)

Astroblitz 5min (BAD Defender clone)

Satellites and Meteorites 20min (finally found another copy after many years, not as much fun as I remember. Bad Asteroids clone)

[+thegoldenband]

My time for the week, and it's a doozy:

 

Atari 2600:

Video Chess - 1057 min.

 

Hard to know how to reckon this one since 99.9% of the gameplay time is the computer thinking while I do other things, but there it is. And I'm barely a dozen moves into the game! Ah, well...

[BillyHW]

For last week:

 

SMS:

 

Power Strike - 30 min. For the HSC.

 

Intellivision:

 

Beamrider - 20 min. For the HSC.

 

Arcade:

 

Super Zaxxon - 20 min. For the HSC. Sickening difficulty.

 

Not much gaming this week.

[StanJr]

Dragon Warrior II (NES) 85 mins.

 

 

Good luck with that Video Chess. Game should be over sometime in 2013.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 25, running from June 18 - 24. We logged 2636 minutes of eligible play, playing 17 games on a total of 8 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Video Chess (Atari 2600) - 1057

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 598

3. Dragon Warrior II (NES/Famicom) - 365

4. Power Strike (Sega Master System) - 165

5. Chicken Shift (Arcade) - 156

6. Lynxopoly (Atari Lynx) - 75

7. Beamrider (Intellivision) - 55

8. Meteorites (Atari 5200) - 30

8. Relief Pitcher (Atari Lynx) - 30

10. Super Zaxxon (Arcade) - 20

10. Hotdog (Atari Lynx) - 20

10. Aleste (J) (Sega Master System) - 20

10. Satellites and Meteorites (VIC-20) - 20

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

1. Video Chess (Atari 2600) - 1057

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 598

3. Chicken Shift (Arcade) - 156

4. Beamrider (Intellivision) - 55

5. Meteorites (Atari 5200) - 30

6. Super Zaxxon (Arcade) - 20

6. Satellites and Meteorites (VIC-20) - 20

8. River Rescue (VIC-20) - 10

9. Astroblitz (VIC-20) - 5

9. Meteor Run (VIC-20) - 5

9. Mole Attack (VIC-20) - 5

 

Top 10 systems:

 

Not enough entries for a top 10. The Atari 2600 would be #1, with 1655 minutes.

 

Kings and queens, man. Kings and queens. (Also knights.)

[BillyHW]

Aleste and Power Strike are the same game. Is it tradition to count Japanese and American versions of games separately? Just curious.

[+thegoldenband]

If there's any significant difference between the two versions, I count them separately. If the ROMs are identical, or if the only difference is in the title screen, then they can be considered one and the same. But as you know, the Japanese and American versions of many games have massive difficulty changes, i.e. Art of Fighting, Contra Hard Corps, and Dynamite Headdy for Genesis.

 

Regardless, I usually go with whatever's indicated by the poster and follow that person's lead, since obviously I can't check out every game myself -- though occasionally I do anyway.

[+thegoldenband]

BTW I finally finished it:

 

Atari 2600:

Video Chess - 1186 min.

 

Once again, the overwhelming majority of this gameplay time consisted of Stella either working in the background, or simply being left unattended to do its thing. Even so, I beat it with the Black pieces, and the game didn't cheat! Further comments here.

[zylon]

Aleste and Power Strike are the same game. Is it tradition to count Japanese and American versions of games separately? Just curious.

Aleste is harder than Power Strike and just a touch better graphically.

Where I might get 400k-600k on P-strike, 40k on Aleste is my norm.

Edited June 29, 2012 by zylon

[BillyHW]

Well, if Aleste is harder than Power Strike, I really screwed myself over in the SMS HSC round last week.

 

Arcade:

 

Super Zaxxon - 1.5 hours. Filthy.

Snow Bros. - 1.5 hours. My little nephew really likes this game!

Edited July 1, 2012 by BillyHW

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-757 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 235,907

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (June 25th through July 1st)...

 

Arcade:

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 31 min.

 

Commodore 64:

Trashman (New Generation Software) - 43 min. in 2 sessions

 

PC (non-eligible):

Trashman Anniversary - 88 min. in 2 sessions

 

I played 3 games this week... first I replayed "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", reaching the drawbridge on the third attempt.

Then, a new game I didn't try before... Trashman, in this case on the Commodore 64. For the early 80's, the graphics are nice, but there's not much change from level to level.

I called it "Trashman (New Generation Software)" because there's another game called "Trashman" on the C-64, I think by Creative Software, which is a Pac-Man clone.

 

Trashman Anniversary is a PC remake of Trashman with 3D graphics and better animation than the original. It's also faster and smoother, and you're not as prone to accidental mistakes as on the original, but the time limit is tighter to make up for that. The version I played is from 2009, so I don't think this qualifies for the Top 10. The original Trashman, however, is from 1984, and there's also a Spectrum version of it, but I'm not entirely sure if I would put it in the pre-NES category or not. Judging by system, however, I certainly would because the C-64 came before the NES, but it's by an independent software company, so probably not pre-crash.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Kurt_Woloch

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the rest of the week:

 

Intellivision:

USCF Chess - 220 min.

 

Game Boy:

Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge - 276 min.

Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures - 54 min.

 

Beat USCF Chess with the White and Black pieces on the highest difficulty level, and also beat Mega Man for Game Boy. Comments on both games here. BTW, about half of that Mega Man time is from a previous week in June, when I forgot to list it.

 

After that I worked for a bit on Ren & Stimpy, managing to complete the first Stimpy stage and get a fair bit into the first Ren stage. It's the kind of mediocre platformer I find somehow soothing to play -- even as the cheap hits and play control shortcomings start piling up. The lack of a password/continue feature, however, is more than annoying.

[zylon]

SMS:

Rastan 15min

 

5200:

The Dreadnaught factor 20min

 

A8:

The Dreadnaught Factor 25min

 

2600:

Kaboom 15min

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 25, running from June 25 - July 1. We logged 2907 minutes of eligible play, playing 13 games on a total of 9 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Video Chess (Atari 2600) - 1186

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 772

3. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Game Boy) - 276

4. USCF Chess (Intellivision) - 220

5. Snow Bros. (Arcade) - 90

5. Super Zaxxon (Arcade) - 90

7. Dragon Warrior II (NES/Famicom) - 85

8. Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures (Game Boy) - 54

9. Trashman (C64) - 43

10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Arcade) - 31

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

Not enough entries for a top 10.

 

Top 10 systems:

 

Not enough entries for a top 10. The Atari 2600 would be #1, with 1958 minutes.

 

It was a thin week, but that's not unexpected in the summertime, when the weather is high -- or is it hot? -- well, either way, you can stretch right up and touch the sky. When the weather's fine, you got queens, you got queens on your mind. Have a drink, catch a bomb, go out and see what you can find.

 

Later today or tomorrow I'll post a mid-year update!

[+thegoldenband]

All right, so far in 2012 we've played:

 

- 602 games

- 40 systems

- 87304 minutes, or the equivalent of just over 60 days

 

Here are the top 100 games for the first half of the year (all times in minutes), with the top 10 in bold. The #1 entry is no surprise!

 

Games:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 20920

2. Lock 'n' Chase (Intellivision) - 2885

3. Video Chess (Atari 2600) - 2636

4. Berzerk (Arcade) - 1670

5. Berzerk (Atari 2600) - 1650

6. Qbillion (Game Boy) - 1426

7. Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean (Sega Saturn) - 1260

8. Legend of Wukong (Genesis) - 1227

9. Super Hydlide (Genesis) - 1208

10. Pilotwings 64 (N64) - 1033

11. Donkey Kong Jr. (Atari 7800) - 770

12. Faery Tale Adventure (Genesis) - 736

13. Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory (Arcade) - 732

14. Kid Icarus (NES/Famicom) - 720

15. WarpSpeed (Genesis) - 710

16. Snow Bros. (Arcade) - 690

17. Ys Book I & II (Turbografx-16) - 682

18. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Genesis) - 655

19. Space Pilot II (C64) - 651

20. Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar) - 626

21. Soul Blazer (SNES) - 606

22. Chiki Chiki Boys (Genesis) - 601

23. B.O.B. (SNES) - 596

24. Park Patrol (C64) - 574

25. Lagoon (SNES) - 572

26. Backgammon (Atari 2600) - 560

27. Kolibri (Sega 32X) - 557

28. SteamRoller (ColecoVision) - 548

29. Dragon Warrior II (NES/Famicom) - 525

30. Diner (Intellivision) - 516

31. Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Arcade) - 510

31. Pac-Man (Arcade) - 510

31. California Games (Atari Lynx) - 510

31. Ms. Pac-Man (Atari Lynx) - 510

35. Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf (Genesis) - 485

36. Asteroids (Atari 7800) - 483

37. Galaxian (Atari 8-bit) - 480

37. Sword of Fargoal (C64) - 480

37. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (N64) - 480

37. Golf (NES/Famicom) - 480

37. Civilization (PC (DOS)) - 480

42. Berzerk (Atari 5200) - 465

43. Raiden (Atari Jaguar) - 451

44. Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Dreamcast) - 440

45. B.O.B. (Genesis) - 434

46. Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach (NES/Famicom) - 420

47. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Game Boy) - 411

48. Splash (Arcade) - 405

48. Spiderman/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge (SNES) - 405

50. Burgertime (Mattel Aquarius) - 382

51. Defender 2000 (Atari Jaguar) - 379

52. Jewel Master (Genesis) - 369

53. Klax (Arcade) - 360

53. Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade) - 360

55. Sküljagger (SNES) - 357

56. Dig Dug (Arcade) - 355

57. Illusion of Gaia (SNES) - 330

58. Dark Castle (Genesis) - 316

59. Granada (Genesis) - 313

60. Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (Genesis) - 303

61. Wacky Races (Dreamcast) - 291

62. Frenzy (ColecoVision) - 290

63. Mega Man (NES/Famicom) - 285

64. Donkey Kong (Atari 7800) - 280

65. Spyro the Dragon (PlayStation) - 274

66. Eye of the Beholder (Atari Lynx) - 270

66. Mega Man 2 (NES/Famicom) - 270

68. Trampoline Terror (Genesis) - 258

69. Pac-Man Collection (Atari 7800) - 250

70. Q*Bert's Qubes (Arcade) - 247

71. Pole Position (Atari 5200) - 245

71. NES Open (NES/Famicom) - 245

73. Sheriff (Arcade) - 243

75. Toki (Atari Lynx) - 240

75. Greg Norman's Golf Power (NES/Famicom) - 240

75. Superman (NES/Famicom) - 240

77. Ardy Lightfoot (SNES) - 238

78. Atari Karts (Atari Jaguar) - 235

79. Pinball Fantasies (Atari Jaguar) - 227

80. Klax (Atari Lynx) - 225

81. USCF Chess (Intellivision) - 220

82. Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns (Arcade) - 210

82. Seaweed Assault (Atari 2600) - 210

84. Shaq-Fu (Genesis) - 208

85. Tecmo Secret of the Stars (SNES) - 207

86. Evander Holyfield's “Real Deal” Boxing (Genesis) - 205

87. Gauntlet (Arcade) - 203

88. Frantic (ColecoVision) - 201

89. Trashmania: Remix (Atari 2600) - 200

90. Congo Bongo (Arcade) - 195

90. Ms. Pac-Man (C64) - 195

92. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis) - 190

92. Commando (Intellivision) - 190

92. Stonix (Intellivision) - 190

95. Gain Ground (Genesis) - 186

96. Metal Head (Sega 32X) - 184

97. Pac-Land (Arcade) - 180

97. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (Game Boy Color) - 180

97. Mega Man 4 (NES/Famicom) - 180

100. Power Strike (Sega Master System) - 175

 

And here are the top 100 games on pre-NES platforms for the first half of 2012:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 20920

2. Lock 'n' Chase (Intellivision) - 2885

3. Video Chess (Atari 2600) - 2636

4. Berzerk (Arcade) - 1670

5. Berzerk (Atari 2600) - 1650

6. Donkey Kong Jr. (Atari 7800) - 770

7. Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory (Arcade) - 732

8. Space Pilot II (C64) - 651

9. Park Patrol (C64) - 574

10. Backgammon (Atari 2600) - 560

11. SteamRoller (ColecoVision) - 548

12. Diner (Intellivision) - 516

13. Pac-Man (Arcade) - 510

14. Asteroids (Atari 7800) - 483

15. Galaxian (Atari 8-bit) - 480

15. Sword of Fargoal (C64) - 480

17. Berzerk (Atari 5200) - 465

18. Burgertime (Mattel Aquarius) - 382

19. Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade) - 360

20. Dig Dug (Arcade) - 355

21. Frenzy (ColecoVision) - 290

22. Donkey Kong (Atari 7800) - 280

23. Pac-Man Collection (Atari 7800) - 250

24. Q*Bert's Qubes (Arcade) - 247

25. Pole Position (Atari 5200) - 245

26. Sheriff (Arcade) - 243

27. USCF Chess (Intellivision) - 220

28. Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns (Arcade) - 210

28. Seaweed Assault (Atari 2600) - 210

30. Gauntlet (Arcade) - 203

31. Frantic (ColecoVision) - 201

32. Trashmania: Remix (Atari 2600) - 200

33. Congo Bongo (Arcade) - 195

33. Ms. Pac-Man (C64) - 195

35. Commando (Intellivision) - 190

35. Stonix (Intellivision) - 190

37. Pac-Land (Arcade) - 180

38. Water Ski (Atari 7800) - 172

39. Missile Command (Atari 2600) - 170

40. G.I. Joe (Atari 2600) - 165

40. Mario Bros. (Atari 5200) - 165

42. Chicken Shift (Arcade) - 156

43. Donkey Kong (Arcade) - 155

44. Circus Atari (Atari 2600) - 145

45. Bump 'n' Jump (Intellivision) - 144

46. Qix (Atari 5200) - 135

47. Transformers, The (C64) - 128

48. Casino (Atari 2600) - 125

48. Super Cobra (Atari 5200) - 125

50. Donkey Kong 3 (Arcade) - 121

51. Ghosts 'n' Goblins (C64) - 120

51. Utopia (Intellivision) - 120

53. Beamrider (Intellivision) - 117

54. Rampage (Atari 7800) - 114

54. Beach-Head (Atari 8-bit) - 114

56. Big Deal, The (C64) - 111

57. Super Zaxxon (Arcade) - 110

58. Cavelon (Arcade) - 107

59. Caverns of Khafka (C64) - 105

60. Burgertime (Arcade) - 102

61. Frenzy (Arcade) - 90

61. Frogger (Atari 5200) - 90

61. N.O.M.A.D. (C64) - 90

61. Pac-Man (proto) (ColecoVision) - 90

65. Tortues (VG-5000) - 88

66. AD&D: Cloudy Mountain (Intellivision) - 83

67. Wizardry (Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord) (Apple II) - 75

67. Chunkout 2600 (Atari 2600) - 75

69. Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade) - 72

70. Bridge (Atari 2600) - 70

70. Miner 2049er (Atari 5200) - 70

70. Pengo (Atari 5200) - 70

70. K.C. Munchkin (Odyssey^2) - 70

74. Super Burgertime (Arcade) - 68

74. Tron: Deadly Discs (Intellivision) - 68

76. High Noon (C64) - 67

77. Secret Agent (Atari 2600) - 65

77. Defender (Atari 5200) - 65

77. Dig Dug (Atari 5200) - 65

77. Burger Chase (C64) - 65

81. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Arcade) - 63

82. H.E.R.O. (Atari 2600) - 60

82. Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (C64) - 60

82. Mayhem (Odyssey^2) - 60

85. Bosconian (Arcade) - 50

85. Warplock (Atari 2600) - 50

85. Galaxian (Atari 5200) - 50

85. Donkey Kong (Atari 8-bit) - 50

85. PBA Bowling (Intellivision) - 50

90. Bank Panic (Arcade) - 49

91. Time Pilot (ColecoVision) - 48

92. Burgertime (Atari 2600) - 46

93. Moon Patrol (Atari 5200) - 45

93. Ms. Pac-Man (Atari 5200) - 45

93. Maze Maniac (ColecoVision) - 45

93. Astrosmash (Intellivision) - 45

93. Tron: Maze-A-Tron (Intellivision) - 45

98. Pressure Cooker (Atari 2600) - 44

99. Trashman (C64) - 43

99. Beauty and the Beast (Intellivision) - 43

99. Blockade Runner (Intellivision) - 43

 

And finally, here are the total gameplay minutes for all the systems we've played so far in 2012:

 

1. Atari 2600 (28005)

2. Sega Genesis (9777)

3. Arcade (8471)

4. Intellivision (5212)

5. SNES (4323)

6. NES/Famicom (4139)

7. Commodore 64 (2907)

8. Atari Lynx (2435)

9. Atari Jaguar (2323)

10. Atari 7800 (2264)

11. Game Boy (2101)

12. N64 (1970)

13. Atari 5200 (1815)

14. ColecoVision (1492)

15. Sega Saturn (1460)

16. Turbografx-16 (1082)

17. Atari 8-bit (1074)

18. Dreamcast (975)

19. Sega 32X (811)

20. Neo Geo AES/MVS (705)

21. Sega Master System (639)

22. PlayStation (637)

23. PC (DOS) (605)

24. Mattel Aquarius (382)

25. Odyssey^2 (266)

26. 3DO (240)

27. Game Gear (207)

28. Game Boy Color (182)

29. TI-99 (181)

30. PC (Windows 95/98) (145)

31. Apple II (100)

32. VG-5000 (88)

33. Vectrex (80)

34. VIC-20 (70)

35. Intellivision ECS (37)

36. Neo Geo CD (35)

37. Neo Geo Pocket Color (30)

38. Linux (25)

39. SG-1000 (9)

40. Atari ST (5)

 

BTW I'd like to be able to offer the all-time totals for these games and systems by the end of this year -- in other words, totaling up all the gameplay since the tracker started in 2008. We're currently missing the numbers for 2009, but maybe that'll be remedied.

 

So, there it is. Keep on playing!

[+thegoldenband]

My time so far this week:

 

Game Boy:

Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures - 167 min.

 

Beat the game! It's mediocre in any objective sense, but I still enjoyed it (when I wasn't cursing at it). Thoughts here.

[zylon]

up to the 5th of july:

2600:

Seaweed Assault- 35min

 

5200:

Missile Command- 30min

The Dreadnaught Factor- 2.25hrs

 

SMS:

Thunder Blade- 45min

[+davidcalgary29]

A8: Dr. Mario, 270 minutes

[+thegoldenband]

Arcade:

Pit Fighter - 24 min.

Spy Hunter II - 3 min.

 

Game Boy:

Skate or Die: Bad 'N' Rad - 504 min.

 

Beat Skate or Die, and also played through Pit Fighter with my girlfriend (via Midway Arcade Treasures 2 on the GameCube). Alas, Pit Fighter doesn't hold up the way it did when I was 14, piling someone else's quarters into a machine at my friend's time-share resort condo.

 

We also played Spy Hunter II for a bit, but it seemed like that loveliest of combinations: a bad game, badly emulated.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-1240 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 674,931

 

This is only the second time I surpassed 600,000. Still it is frustrating to get so high and then lose.

[+thegoldenband]

Oh, man. There's nothing that can assuage that feeling but time. I still believe you're going to make it, though!

 

When that screenshot comes there will be much jubilation and rejoicing -- but tinged with sadness, for the quest will be over -- it'll be like the end of the Return of the Jedi (original version, of course), with Stormtrooper xylophones and everything. (Whether any of us otherwise resemble Ewoks is a question best left shrouded in mystery.)

[littleman jack]

Atari 2600

Crossbow-20 minutes

Football-10 minutes

Gravitar-10 minutes

Pitfall-15 minutes

Seaweed Assault-25 minutes

 

Linux

Bomber-8 minutes

Burgerspace-10 minutes

Kapman-10 minutes

 

Dreamcast

Sonic Adventure II-15 minutes

[+thegoldenband]

Vectrex:

Art Master - 5 min.

 

Game Boy:

F-1 Race - 49 min.

Revenge of the Gator - 5 min.

Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break - 141 min.

 

Beat yet another Game Boy franchise platformer, Tiny Toon Adventures, which despite having limited continues is a much easier game than the others I'd been playing lately. Thoughts here.

 

Then I tried picking F-1 Race back up, but wasn't able to beat the third race. I'm terrible at Pole Position-style racers, and this one's particularly brutal.

[BillyHW]

Arcade:

 

Pooyan - 5 min.

NARC - 20 min.

 

Lynx:

 

Scrapyard Dog - 10 min.

 

Not much gaming this week. I did catch a baseball game and a football game though. Also spent some time watching Keilbaca's 2600 Berzerk world record game.